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Background: WHO and UNICEF recommend zinc therapy in children with acute diarrhoea, however adherence to the recommendation varies from country to country. Objectives: To determine the knowledge, acceptance and practice of zinc use in childhood diarrhoea among paediatric doctors in Nigeria. Every third sitting part icipant during the 42 Paediatric Association of Nigeria Conference was requested to complete a questionnaire if they were either a paediatric resident doctor or consultant working in Nigeria. Results: Of the 153 questionnaires distributed, 93 (60.8%) were returned and 85 met the study criteria. Over half (57.6%) of the respondents were consultant paediatricians and 84.7% (49 of 85) practise in tertiary or teaching hospitals, mostly in the southern part of Nigeria (70.8%). About half(44.3%) of the respondents managed more than 10 diarrhoeal cases every month. All except one respondent (84 of 85) agreed with t h e W H O / U N I C E F recommendation and 86.9% (73 of 85) reported prescribing zinc for acute diarrhoea in the past year; 67.1% (49 out of 73) prescribed it always for acute diarrhoea. Knowledge of the effects of zinc on acute diarrhoea was high. There was no significant difference between the paediatric residents and the consultants in both knowledge and practice of zinc therapy. Conclusion: The use of zinc as an adjunct in the management of acute diarrhoea is acceptable and practised by most paediatric residents and consultants in Nigeria.

Introduction The degree of disability in childrenwith Cerebral Palsy (CP) can be evaluated with the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), a valid tool which was designed for such purposes. However, there appears to be paucity of data on the awareness and use of the GMFCS particularly in the Sub-Saharan continent where the condition is still prevalent. Thus, this study aims to describe awareness, use, merits and demerits of the GMFCS system as perceived by health professionals who take care of children with CP. Methods: This was a cross sectional study of health professionals from three Nigerian teachingchospitals. Information obtained via structured questionnaire were demographic data, years of qualification, years of experience ofworking with children with CP, awareness, use, merits and demerits of the GMFCS. Factors associated with use of the GMFCS were also evaluated with the Chi-square analysis. Results: 78 health professionals participated in the study and majority (58.9%) were doctors. 55 (70.5%) of the study participants were aware of the GMFCS but only 33(42.3%) were using it. The nurses were neither aware of the system nor using it. A higher proportion of therapists (65.4%) were familiar with the system compared to the doctors (54.3 % ) .The location of practice was significantly associated with the use of the GMFCS (p=0.013). More doctors noted the merits and demerits of the system compared to the therapists. Conclusion: Though health professionals were aware of the GMFCS only a small proportion was using this vital tool in the clinical setting. Thus, there is the need to create more awareness on GMFCS and its clinical utility, and the training of nurses should be of paramount importance in the developing country.

Background: Intestinal parasitic infection is highly prevalent among children in the tropics. Identifying the most at risk group and subsequent targeted intervention will lead to cost effective and easy to implement control programme. We thus aim to determine the prevalence and pattern of intestinal parasite among pupils from public and private schools. Material and Method: This was a cross-sectional survey. Participants were recruited through multistage stratified random sampling. Information were collected using a questionnaire and early morning freshly passed stool sample was collected and processed from each participating pupil. Stool microscopy was done using saline and iodine preparations. Eggs were counted using Stoll’s method. Data obtained was analyzed using EPI INFO version 3.5.1. Results: Four hundred and twenty pupils were studied, 210 pupils from each school type. Prevalence of 78.1% and 17.1% were recorded for the public and private schools respectively. The pupils from the public schools were 17.23 times more likely to have intestinal parasitic infestation compared to those from private schools (OR =17.23, 95% CI = 10.6-28.01, p = < 0.0001) Ascaris lumbricoides was the most frequent isolate in both the public (62.8%) and private (66.7%) schools. The prevalence of multiple parasitic infestation was 14.8% in the public schools and none in the private schools. Socioeconomic status and source of water were the main factors with significant effect on the prevalence of intestinal parasite (p

Summary : Camptomelic dysplasia, a very rare and lethal form of skeletal dysplasia is reported in one of a set of twins. He presented on the second day of life with short, deformed lower limbs and respiratory distress from birth and died on the fifth day of life. This report highlights the features of camptomelic dysplasia and draws attention to its occurrence in a Nigerian child. With advances in neonatal life support, there is need to proffer solutions to the problems that presently make the prognosis of camptomelic dysplasia, poor.

The research examined the spread of internet addiction among tertiary institution students in Osun State and examine the connection between social anxiety and internet addiction. The research used descriptive survey research methodology. A sample of 1,430 students were picked to be involved in the research using multistage sampling methodology. Information were gathered using an instrument titled "Social Anxiety and Internet Addiction Questionnaire" (SAIAQ). Information gathered were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Specifically, research questions one, two and three were answered using percentages and frequency counts. Research hypotheses one, two and four were tested using Pearson product moment correlation while hypotheses three, five and six were tested using ordinal logistic regression, multiple regression analysis respectively. The outcome indicated that majority of participants (56.78%) exhibited little degree of internet addiction, while 23.63% and 15.01% exhibited moderate and severe levels of internet addiction respectively. The research also revealed a significant positive relationship between social anxiety and internet addiction among the students (r=0.261, p=0.000). The research inferred that social anxiety is potent factor that could trigger internet addiction of students and exhibition of internet addiction would reduce more with students' age.

The safety assessments of the geological storage of spent nuclear fuel require understanding the underground radionuclide mobility in case of a leakage from multi-barrier canisters. Uranium, the most common radionuclide in non-reprocessed spent nuclear fuels, is immobile in reduced form (U(IV) and highly mobile in an oxidized state (U(VI)). The latter form is considered one of the most dangerous environmental threats in the safety assessments of spent nuclear fuel repositories. The sorption of uranium to mineral surfaces surrounding the repository limits their mobility. We quantify uranium sorption using surface complexation models (SCMs). Unfortunately, numerical SCM solvers often encounter convergence problems due to the complex nature of convoluted equations and correlations between model parameters. This study explored two machine learning surrogates for the 2-pK Triple Layer Model of uranium retention by oxide surfaces if released as U(IV) in the oxidizing conditions: random forest regressor and deep neural networks. Our surrogate models, particularly DNN, accurately reproduce SCM model predictions at a fraction of the computational cost without any convergence issues. The safety assessment of spent fuel repositories, specifically the migration of leaked radioactive waste, will benefit from having ultrafast AI/ML surrogates for the computationally expensive sorption models that can be easily incorporated into larger-scale contaminant migration models. One such model is presented here.

1. Introduction Migration is increasingly becoming a widespread phenomenon; its associated complexities and implications for countries of origin, transit, and destination have become topical issues in academic and policy domains. [...]